Welcome to the world of scandalous reporting as we uncover 11 biggest fake news stories that sound real. Despite some of them looking like something that came out of 12 funniest coolest subreddits to subscribe, people actually believed them.
In a world where people turn to Comedy Central and Jon Stewart for their daily dose of news and where it is getting harder to distinguish between CNN and The Onion, fake news are very easy to sell. For instance, if an article claims that the NSA chief forgot about his agency mass surveillance program, rational person would consider that a fake news story, because no rational person could believe such an obvious lie, and it was a story from The Onion’s front page. Unfortunately, the story is true and the said chief did make that statement.
Throughout the history, fake news were created and distributed for various purposes. Some of them are created for giggles, some, more sinister, are aimed to create chaos or confusion in enemy ranks, be it armed conflict or a political race. Some were used to instigate conflicts or justify their creators’ actions. Some of them are just a product of misunderstanding or even ignorance. We even have few that are born out of paranoia.
Although all of these have small, sometimes even obscure sources, most of these have appeared on reputable sites, but were quickly quashed, so don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of some of them. Their origin is known in most cases and creators of these 11 biggest fake news stories that sound real will never be trusted again by the major news agencies.
